In general, when mats are used by being additionally mounted on carpets in a vehicle, clips for fixing the mats are fixedly installed on the carpet, and the mats are fixed by being hooked to the clips. Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose configurations of clips used to fix mats on carpets in this way.
Patent Document 1 relates to a clip for fixing a mat on a carpet of a vehicle, and discloses the clip that includes a lower plate that is located on a lower surface of the carpet and has insertion grooves formed in a front section; an upper plate that is located on an upper surface of the carpet and has hooks to be fastened to the insertion grooves formed in a front section thereof and a protrusion to which the mat is fitted formed in a upper part thereof; a column that passes through a hole of the carpet and vertically connects a rear section of the lower plate and a rear section of the upper plate; and a pressing unit that is formed by a flexible material to enhance a fixing force of the clip to the carpet by pressing the carpet section fitted between the upper plate and the lower plate upward when the upper plate and the lower plate are fastened, has an annular longitudinal sectional surface, and by which the upper part and the lower part gradually come closer to each other when the upper plate and the lower plate are fastened.
Patent Document 2 relates to a vehicle carpet reinforcing structure which reinforces a vehicle carpet to be fixed with a mat using a fixing clip, and a method of manufacturing the same. The vehicle carpet reinforcing structure includes a body that is located to correspond to a lower part of the fixing clip and has a plate shape body; and a fixing unit installed on one side of the body to fix the body to the carpet. According to the vehicle carpet reinforcing structure and method of manufacturing the same of Patent Document 2, by reinforcing the carpet to correspond to a bottom surface of the fixing clip for fixing the mat, it is possible to suppress the damage or deformation of the carpet due to the movement of the fixing clip and to extend the lifetime of the carpet.
However, such conventional clips have the following problems:
(1) Since the upper plate and the lower plate are formed to be divided, it was inconvenient to mount the clip to the carpet.
(2) Since the clip is fixed to the carpet in the form of an elastic piece, when a weak impact is applied to the clip, the elastic piece is easily unfixed, and the clip may be detached from the carpet;
(3) The mat fixed to the clip deviates from its original position due to the detachment of the clip, and there is an inconvenience in that the mat is required to be fixed at its original position again or repositioned;
(4) When the clip is frequently unhooked or does not work due to damage or the like, since there is a need to replace the clip with a new one, there is an inconvenience in maintenance;
(5) In particular, since the fixing unit of the clip made in the form of the elastic piece loses elasticity over time, ultimately, the clip may be detached from the carpet; and
(6) Since the elastic piece has a form in which it is hooked on only one side, when loads are applied to the clip from several directions, the clip is easily unhooked, and the clip may be detached from the carpet.
Patent Document 1 Korean Patent No. 10-0971253 (registration date: Jul. 13, 2010)
Patent Document 2 Korean Patent No. 10-1210463 (registration date: Dec. 4, 2012)